Cal and Emily are the couple that begin and end the movie for us. Cal and Emily’s divorce kick starts Cal meeting Jacob and Jacob meeting Hanna. The relationship that Cal and Emily have in the beginning is unfulfilled. Emily asks for a divorce because she’s feeling very unsatisfied. Cal is very shocked because he thought everything was going well. They have a beautiful house, lovely kids; they’ve been together for 25 years--Cal was in the happiest relationship of his life, and he thought Emily was too.
There are five defining moments in Cal and Emily’s relationship in this movie. I am going to refer to them as the Dinner, the Garden, the Parent/Teacher Conference, the Mini Golf Fiasco, and the Graduation.
The Dinner: Before the dinner …show more content…
Before the conference begins, Emily and Cal are sat talking for real for the first time since Emily announced the divorce. Their talk mostly centers on their relationship, and the different outcomes they have gotten out of it over the years. Cal feels guilty for not making as much of an effort into their relationship as much as he did when they were younger. He says he got boring and lazy, the equity in the relationship went down. He didn’t contribute as much as he should have, and the outcome was Emily cheating. He’s mad at himself for not fighting for her when she wanted a divorce. The result of their interpersonal conflict, (where two people’s goals are incompatible), is that he loses out on keeping his relationship and she gets a divorce. However, Emily isn’t as happy as Cal believes. She goes out with David a few times and realizes there is no passion there. She’s been lonely since Cal moved out and her comparison level isn’t satisfied with David. She believes she deserves more than what David is offering; she liked what she had with Cal when they were younger. Emily starts looking at Cal like maybe they can start up a relationship together, right before it is revealed that Cal slept with Robbie’s teacher, didn’t call her, and worst of all used a phrase on her that used to be reserved for Emily; “the perfect combination of cute and sexy.” Emily and Cal start fighting like they never have. Emily is distraught that Cal is sleeping with other women and using that phrase on them. She feels that his cheating is way worse than her own. She storms off and Cal is left
There are five defining moments in Cal and Emily’s relationship in this movie. I am going to refer to them as the Dinner, the Garden, the Parent/Teacher Conference, the Mini Golf Fiasco, and the Graduation.
The Dinner: Before the dinner …show more content…
Before the conference begins, Emily and Cal are sat talking for real for the first time since Emily announced the divorce. Their talk mostly centers on their relationship, and the different outcomes they have gotten out of it over the years. Cal feels guilty for not making as much of an effort into their relationship as much as he did when they were younger. He says he got boring and lazy, the equity in the relationship went down. He didn’t contribute as much as he should have, and the outcome was Emily cheating. He’s mad at himself for not fighting for her when she wanted a divorce. The result of their interpersonal conflict, (where two people’s goals are incompatible), is that he loses out on keeping his relationship and she gets a divorce. However, Emily isn’t as happy as Cal believes. She goes out with David a few times and realizes there is no passion there. She’s been lonely since Cal moved out and her comparison level isn’t satisfied with David. She believes she deserves more than what David is offering; she liked what she had with Cal when they were younger. Emily starts looking at Cal like maybe they can start up a relationship together, right before it is revealed that Cal slept with Robbie’s teacher, didn’t call her, and worst of all used a phrase on her that used to be reserved for Emily; “the perfect combination of cute and sexy.” Emily and Cal start fighting like they never have. Emily is distraught that Cal is sleeping with other women and using that phrase on them. She feels that his cheating is way worse than her own. She storms off and Cal is left